Josh Lawrence’s Still We Dream is a bold invitation into a rare kind of dialogue, one where Thelonious Monk and Frédéric Chopin sit across the table, their melodies conversing in a language both timeless and new. On his seventh Posi-Tone Records release, the acclaimed trumpeter and composer reshapes the legacies of these two giants through a modern jazz lens, leading a first-rate quintet with Diego Rivera on tenor sax, Art Hirahara on piano, Boris Kozlov on bass, and Rudy Royston on drums.

Across twelve tracks, the band moves with ease between bristling swing and moments of hushed introspection, revealing just how much Monk’s angular wit and Chopin’s lyrical elegance have in common. Lawrence’s arrangements do not blur the lines between jazz and classical so much as place them in open conversation, a concept inspired by his studies with the late Barry Harris, who believed there were no barriers between genres, only ideas and the freedom to explore them.

The result is an album steeped in jazz tradition yet open to fresh currents, where each performance feels like an exchange of stories across centuries. That sense of connection between past and present, real and imagined, anchors Still We Dream. In its quiet moments, it reminds us that dreaming is never idle. In its bursts of energy, it proves that the dialogue between traditions is as alive as ever.

Josh Lawrence, hailed by Downbeat as “a preeminent voice among young composers,” brings the full scope of his artistry to the project. With Grammy-nominated work alongside Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band and Adam Blackstone’s Legacy, collaborations with Erykah Badu, Boyz II Men, and Jazmine Sullivan, and honors from the Pew Center, Chamber Music America, and the Kimmel Center, he has built a career on both virtuosity and vision. Still We Dream is the latest chapter in that story, an album that listens deeply, asks big questions, and invites you to keep dreaming right along with it.